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Explain In Detail What Brain Game Is and Positioning.

I've read a few comments that there are players who rely more on brains rather than their aim. Explain this in more detail. Is it simply anticipating the enemies locations at all times and knowing when to run and when to rush?

Positioning is a matter of the game mode your playing. Take CTF for example. You have 4 sides playing the game. What??? Yes, 4 sides. and how it is broken down is you have 2 teams and on each team you have offence and defense. Depending on which one your playing that will determine positioning. Its about being able to make the shot that best affects the outcome of the game. As far as being a thinking game you can wait for the shot to happen or you can just play. That is a choice for the player to make.

In general: your usual fight is not even. Despite the mode, you usually have a different stack, different loadout, etc. Other factors like surprise and weapon selection based on architecture around you, too. So while an "aim player" relies on his reflexes and hit percentage a "brain player" might try to force fights when he out-favours his opponent. A big part is about "realizing" and "taking advantage of" being favored in some way.

I doubt there is a step-by-step guide but maybe some analysis when you check YouTube.

"I worked hard to learn to aim where I shouldn't be aiming, I want others to get through this pain too!"o . o . o . o

If you want to learn brain game, the best mode is duels. Duels will teach you every core skill needed to be a higher level player.

Map awareness - this is a huge part of the game. It's not enough to be familiar with a map, you have to really KNOW the map. If an opponent goes through doorway/teleporter/corridor X, where does it lead? Can you intercept him when he gets there? Can you lay suppressive fire in anticipation of his arrival? What items does he need to survive? Is he hurt? Is there a health/armor pickup nearby that you can deny from him? Is he going for mega, red, rg, rl? When you really know a map, you know where every path leads and where every item pickup is and therefore can use this information to intelligently predict an opponent's goals based on his position and need. Every opponent behaves differently but all will compete to have the biggest stack of health, armor and weaponry, so having good map awareness is the first step to controlling the map.

The reason I recommend duels instead of CA, CTF etc. is because nothing in duels will hold your hand. You will be brutally destroyed over and over and over as a beginner. You will have no teammates to take the pressure off you or help you kill, so your skill will improve much faster than if you had coasted along in a team game. That isn't to say there aren't skills to learn in team games, but it's a lot more chaotic and unpredictable. Duels is pure 1v1 mind vs mind, skill vs skill... part of that is mental and part of it is physical (aim, reactions). Duels will improve both of these big time and make you a better player.

As OMG says, duels are a big help. I'd recommend watching duels. Tons of demos and youtubes out there. See what the good players are doing. Reread OMG's post, then play the map to see why the pros are doing what they are doing. Why is that guy constantly dodging behind the post, why does he/she rush to and spam an area after opponent goes through teleporter, why spam nades into specific doorways, etc.

Well if aim play is relying on having very strong accuracy and reflexes (predominantly with rail and/or lg, but can also be known for strong rocket play) and using this to heap way more damage onto your opponent than he can to you in any 'straight' fight.

Brain play is then the opposite, instead of engaging directly, you control the map and items. Even if your opponent out-aims you, you have a 200/200 stack almost permanently and are able to constantly whittle down your opponent with unreturned damage through clever ambushes and angles across the map, accurately guessing (or reading) where your opponent is going to go next.

Aim vs Brain is always the best type of game to watch imo, watching a clever ambush get turned around by his opponent hitting almost 100% LG is always great

Good positioning can be as simple as being on higher ground (enables you to back off and use the terrain as cover and pick the timing of the fight as well as offer an advantage with rockets). It can also be certain places on the map where a rail shot can be fired before fading into cover/onto an item. Good positioning can also be taking up a central position on the map so that you can hear your opponent's location more easily as well as cut-off certain routes and items.